Chessmen (32)
Unknown Artist
The pieces on the buff side are portraits of the military leaders on the German side in the first World War; the black side represents the opposing Allied leaders. The pawns are fighting men in various uniforms. The set was evidently made after the entry of America into the war in 1917. Max Nicolaus Niemeier (b. 1876) was a portraitist of the German school. A board of inlaid wood is en suite with the set.
Credit: Gift of Gustavus A. Pfeiffer, 1948
1917
Pear wood
9.2 cm
48.174.169a-p, aa-pp, q
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection
